Gerald Joyce

Gerald Francis Joyce ( born November 28, 1956 in Manhattan ( Kansas) ) is an American biochemist. He conducts research on biochemical mechanisms at the origin of life on Earth and led pioneering experiments on artificial genetic systems.

Life and work

Joyce studied at the University of Chicago with a bachelor 's degree in 1978 and at the University of California, San Diego, where he received his doctorate in 1984 on nucleic acids. As a post - graduate student, he was at the Salk Institute and since 1989 assistant professor in the Department of Chemistry and Molecular Biology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He became Associate Professor in 1992 and Professor in 1996. 2006 to 2011 he was dean of his faculty at Scripps Institute. During this time a branch in Jupiter was founded in Florida.

In 2009, he led with Tracey Lincoln by an experiment in which two RNA enzymes ( ribozymes that self- copies of RNA strands produce ) are mutually self- catalyzed. This does not require proteins or cellular components were needed only a primordial soup of oligonucleotides. They showed exponential amplification and doubled their population in about 1 hour. The enzymes arose from evolution experiments in which a set of ( man-made ) enzymes competed with each other in the struggle for survival. It was started with enzyme forms that occur in nature, but in the course of the experiments changed greatly.

In vitro experiments on RNA replication, he stated since the 1990s, but with the participation of proteins as enzymes.

In 1987 he studied with colleagues alternatives to a scenario in which ribonucleic acid systems with capacity for self- catalysis of the origin of life were (RNA world hypothesis ), which is unlikely for several reasons, as the authors ran back then.

Awards

In 1994, Joyce the Molecular Biology Award from the National Academy of Sciences and the 1995 Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry. In 1997 he received the Hans Sigrist Prize and the Herbert W. Dickerman Award. He is a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2001) and 2010 received the NAS Award in Early Earth and Life Sciences ( Stanley Miller Medal ) for pioneering experiments on self-organized replication and evolution of RNA enzymes ( ribozymes ) that shed light on the origin of life. In 2009 he was awarded the Dannie Heineman Prize of the Academy of Sciences in Göttingen. In 2012 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.